Mohammad Khatami's visit to the US has been receiving a fair amount of
blog attention. Here is a new development:
A group of Jewish Iranians who say their missing relatives were kidnapped and tortured by the Iranian government have sued the country's former president, delivering the summons to him directly while he was visiting the United States.
The seven families, who reside in Los Angeles and Israel, say their relatives were arrested at different times between 1994 and 1997 as they tried to leave Iran by crossing into Pakistan.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, claims former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami instituted policies that prevented the relatives from having trials and did not give family members information about where they were.
The lawsuit mentions 12 missing Jewish Iranians, all male, some of whom were teenagers at the time of their disappearance. It includes the names of three people whose relatives have not officially joined the lawsuit. The families claim they have heard at times through former prisoners and guards that their missing relatives are still alive.
Khatami, who recently was granted a special visa to enter the United States, was handed copies of the complaint Friday while attending a reception in Arlington, Va., according to representatives of the plaintiffs. [...]
Here is
Robert Fisk gushing over Khatami:
When he spoke of "the vast and all-encompassing presence of powers who express concern for the world but implement policies aimed at devouring the world," there was a sense of shock among his audience. They had not expected such an epic denunciation of US hegemony from a divine known for his compassion rather than his anger.
"Any popular or democratic change or transformation that is outside the realm of their influence is not acceptable," he said, "for they find it far more convenient to deal with non-nationalistic and non-popular trends and regimes rather than popular ones, who naturally tend to care about the welfare and the physical interests of their people."
Thus did Mr Khatami dispose of America's cry for "democracy" in the "new" Middle East.
Needless to say, his words were given scarcely a few seconds on America's major news channels. Mr Khatami's wisdom is not wanted in Washington.
Fisk's wisdom should be "not wanted."
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